


Childhood interrupted

by Valaena_the_Historyteller1



Series: Murders and bullying [1]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen, Hakoda (Avatar) is a Good Parent, Iroh (Avatar) is a Good Uncle, Iroh (Avatar) loves Tea, Ozai (Avatar) Being a Terrible Parent, Ozai (Avatar) is an Asshole, Protective Iroh (Avatar)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-29
Updated: 2020-09-29
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:14:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26707315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Valaena_the_Historyteller1/pseuds/Valaena_the_Historyteller1
Summary: For some kid´s, childhood stops when something horrible happens. For Zuko Sozin, it was the day his father burned half of his face and sent him to the hospital one last time. For Katara Clearwater, it was the night her mother was murdered by a misterious man that broke into their house. She soon finds out that it might have something to do with a person named Sozin. Was this a coincidence?
Relationships: Hakoda/Kya (Avatar), Iroh & Zuko (Avatar), Katara & Kya (Avatar), Original Female Character/Original Male Character
Series: Murders and bullying [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1950184
Kudos: 32





	Childhood interrupted

**Author's Note:**

> Warning: it contains mentions of abuse (because it´s Ozai) and many other criminal activities. Otherwise, enjoy.

Iroh Sozin entered the building of what used to be his father´s company for the first time in years, determination shinning in his eyes like the fire Azulon said cursed through their veins. And he would need that fire now more than ever. His little brother has crossed a line with his last stunt. As he expected, he found Ozai in his office that morning, working as if he didn´t have a care in the world, despite having a son in the hospital.

“I didn´t expect you here this early, brother” the man said, lifting his eyes from the papers on his desk. “Thought that you would still be crying next to the boy´s bed. Tell me, how is the little disappointment doing?”

“You should know very well, Ozai” the other answered, sitting down in front of him. He knew that the man had spies in the hospital Zuko was taken to. Hell, he wouldn´t be surprised if half of the staff was on his brother´s payroll, but he wasn´t about to let him intimidate him. Not now that the boy he loved so much needed him. “I don´t want to waste your time…”

“Then don´t”

“But I want Zuko´s custody” he pulled some papers out of his bag. “I took the liberty of preparing the papers beforehand. You will notice that they are redacted according to the law”

“And why should I give you the boy´s custody?” the businessman glared at him, to what Iroh raised an eyebrow. He thought the man would jump at the opportunity to get rid of his son, who he considered useless. But no, the psychopath wouldn´t make things easy. No matter, he came prepared for that. “He is my son…”

“I thought you would like to help him, but if you want to make thins difficult” he pulled out other papers from the bags. “This are just copies, the originals are in a safe location to which only I have access. And don´t even try to kill me, because if I don´t send a SMS in the next half an hour, three of the most important newspaper in the city are going to know about this. Everything.”

“You think you can intimidate me with what? Photos of…” Ozai got silent when he saw the pictures. They were photos of his ex-wife, Ursa, who escaped him a few years earlier. Photos of different parts of her body, all marred by the abuse she suffered at his hands. And there were a few of Zuko too. “What…”

“I have to congratulate you, Ozai, you covered your tracks pretty well. Having the entire staff of a clinic working for you is really clever. But if you have a few unusual contacts like me, that changes” his brother growled, showing him his teeth. “Don´t be like that, brother.”

“Why did you do this, Iroh?”

“I needed to have something that could ruin a young, promising politician´s career in case you felt the need to extort me out of my part of the company” he said, smiling. He was proud of himself, specially because his little brother was glaring daggers at him. “Yes, I knew you were going to try to incur on politics sooner than later. You are never satisfied with the power you have, Ozai, that´s your problem.”

“What do you want?”

“That you sign those papers, transferring the custody of your son to me. It´s all I ask”

“Really?”

“You will have to believe me, brother. After all, you know I´m not as heartless as you” Iroh assured. “Besides, I care about Zuko more than what happens to you. Much more” Iroh smiled, knowing that he had won. “This is a win-win situation for us. You get rid of a son you don´t want and I got to be a parent again. Now the papers.”

“Fine” Ozai answered, grabbing the documents and signing them all. “Congratulations, you got a useless thirteen years old all for yourself.”

“You didn´t fight me as much as I thought”

“Don´t misunderstand me, Iroh. Has you asked for Azula´s custody, I would have killed you, but with Zuko is a complete different situation. A win-win situation, as you yourself said” he smiled at him, handing him the papers.  
“But I also think you were expecting me to give you the boy without a fight…”

“You don´t seem to care for him enough to give one” the older grabbed the paper and put it back on his luggage. 

“Keep the photos, I have more.”

“You will destroy them if you know what´s good for you”

“I will keep them as a failsafe” the man answered before going to the exit. “Feel free never to visit my teashop. Family visits can become complicated after what you have done.”

“The boy deserved it”

“Good day, Ozai” he finished the conversation before he could lash out at his brother about that particular incident. He exited the company building towards a small café in the same street. Once there, he ordered a small breakfast with jazmin tea to calm himself down. He needed that, especially because he was going to return to Zuko´s bedside soon and he needed to flush the nausea the boy´s father caused him before doing that.

“Thought you would return to the hospital as soon as you can” someone sat across him on the same table. Iroh lifted his head from the cup of tea he was cradling, recognizing his old friend Jeong Jeong. An old friend who was currently working for his brother in the man´s very own legal team. Someone Ozai could never know was Iroh´s eyes and ears in the company.

“I needed to calm myself down before returning to my nephew” admitted the other, before taking a quick look at their environment, to make sure that there were no spies near. “We shouldn´t see each other so close to the company.”

“It couldn´t wait, especially because you already showed Ozai your cards this morning”

“I´m sorry to use the photos before we were ready, but it was the only way to safe Zuko´s life and I refuse to feel sorry for that”

“Hope so, because I found some names you might be interested in” he handed the old general a list of names with a group photo. “This is a mercenary company called the Southern Raiders. Their symbol is a Sea Raven, like in the banner. The army usually hires them for undercover operations, but they don´t have their exclusivity, so normally they accept private contracts.”

“What do this have to do…”

“According to my private investigator´s contact in the FBI, there was a deposit from a bank account from a phantom company to the Southern Raiders one just before Lu Ten´s last deployment” Iroh´s expression hardened. He had always thought that his brother had something to do with his only child´s death, but to have a proof. “And another after. They were also curiously in the same zone your son´s squad was stationed, despite not having any contracts there. Unfortunately, the account is in the Bahamas, so we don´t have a way to know who ordered the transference.”

“Do you have any proofs they were there? Or about the transactions?”

“I can´t probe the money came from Ozai yet, but I´m closer” Jeong Jeong looked around nervously. “Besides, there is something strange with your father´s final will. It just… somehow didn´t fit Azulon Sozin´s normal writing patterns.”

“You think Ozai forged my father´s will to rob me out of my half of the inheritance” the lawyer nodded nervously. Iroh sighed. He had frankly already known this, but to see proofs of that… too bad they were not as conclusive as he would have liked. Ozai´s legal team would squash them if they tried to make a case against him with just this. “I was already expecting this all, but…” he shook his head. “Thank you for helping me, friend. We are close, I feel it.”

“We could be closer if you hadn´t shown your cards to him” the lawyer reminded him. “And here I thought you wanted justice for Lu Ten”

“I do, but… I couldn´t leave Zuko in his hands either” suddenly he felt more depressed than before. He wanted to make Ozai pay for killing his son, but not at the cost of his nephew´s life. His son was dead and no revenge would bring him back, and as much as it pained him, he had to save the child he could still save. “Lu Ten… he would have understood that I had to save his cousin.”

“I guess” he lifted himself from the table. “I need to go back now, but I suggest that you keep a close eye on Zuko. After what he did… I doubt Ozai is going to really leave him alone.”

“I know” Jeong Jeong abandoned the place discreetly. Iroh, for his part, finished his breakfast and rushed to the hospital. He needed to be there before Zuko woke up. He arrived to the burn unit just when the child was opening his eyes. Or at least the eye the doctors hasn´t spent hours trying to save after the boy´s father pressed his face against a gas stove, leaving him scared for life.

“Zuko, are you okay?” he asked, grabbing his hand. “The surgery ended up okay, the doctors said that you might see again through your left eye…”

“Where is father?” the child asked after feeling his face, looking around to try and locate the man there. “I… it was my fault he did this, he had to teach me a lesson and… where is father? Has he come?”

“Zuko, nephew, please” Iroh tried to calm him down. “Your father hasn´t come. He… he has decided that you better come to live with me” the thirteen years old lowered his face, big tears in his eyes. “Oh, Zuko, this is not your fault.”

“It is, if I wasn´t such a disappointment…” his uncle grabbed his face, making him look at the older man.

“Nephew, listen to me” Iroh started, wondering how fast he could get an appointment with Piandao. And glad that he had a friend who was a therapist, because he needed someone trustworthy to threat his nephew. “You are not a disappointment and this is certainly not your fault.” 

“But I…”

“This is not your fault, Zuko” the former general continued, trying to get through the boy´s years of abuse and make him realise that he wasn´t the problem there. “Your father crossed the line with his punishments, his need for perfection pushed him to commit a crime… a crime against you.”

“But he was trying to make me better”

“He went too far, nephew, and that was illegal. Apart from greatly damaging for you. That’s why from now on, you are going to live with me.” 

“Is he throwing me out of the house?”

“No, I demanded your custody. And, as Ozai is aware that he committed a crime by doing this, he agreed with me” he grabbed the child´s face, making him look at his face. “This is not your fault, Zuko, I only wish you to understand that.”

“I… I see” he finally said. “Guess I will have to collect my things from home.”

“I have already sent someone to do that, don´t worry about that” assured Iroh. He knew full well that he hasn´t undone everything his awful brother has done to the poor boy with just a few words, but getting him away from the abuser was a good first step. “Now just sleep, you have to recover enough to get discharged from the hospital.”

“And when is that going to be?”

“When the doctor says the skin is healing well” the general stared at the eyepatch the thirteen years old was wearing with barely concealed pain. The probabilities said that he won´t have to use it for the rest of his live, but… it was a close call. And something Iroh wasn´t going to risk ever again. “Now back to sleep, little dragon. You will need it.”

“Do I have another surgery?”

“No, but… still” the boy nodded and laid back on the bed. “Come on, off to dreamland you go. I will stay by your side until you manage to sleep a bit” His uncle waited for an hour by his side, waiting until he was sure he was asleep, and then he marked a number on his phone. “Hello, doctor Piandao? I need to make an appointment…”

“You know I´m a children therapist, no?”

“And former gold medal on swordplay, I know. Look, the appointment is not for me, but for my thirteen years old nephew…”

“Okay, I´m free on Thursday at three pm. Is that a good hour for you?”

“For now it´s okay, but once he begins school…”

“You have pulled him out of school? Why?”

“I haven´t pulled him out of anything, his father did when he pressed a gas oven to his face” Iroh explained exasperated. Piandao released a very audible sound of horror that was caught by the general. “I will explain it to you on Thursday if everything goes okay, yes? For now, I´m just hoping he recovers enough to…”

“Iroh, have you pressed charges against your brother?”

“No, but…”

“You should, the man is a child abuser! Do you know the kind of mental complications that trauma can cause in a child. And let´s not talk about the how his physical injuries could trigger complex PTSD if the child was abused for a prolonged time, as I fe…”

“I will tell you later, please, I don´t want to deal with this now. Just… we will talk on Thursday.”

“You better” there was a click, signalling that Piandao have ended the call. The former general sighed, hoping that he hasn´t got into more trouble. Well, everything for Zuko´s happiness. 

-Years before-

“Hey, honey, I have some take out. How about we return home early and take lunch with the kids?” Hakoda, a lawyer that took care of the most desperate cases, was talking on his phone to his wife, Kya, private investigator. 

“Sounds lovely, darling. Especially because I´m already at home” the woman answered. Her husband smiled, getting into his car. “Get here soon, Katara is getting impatient and Bato will be here any moment. He is bringing Sokka from his soccer training.”

“I will be there in a tick” he said before hanging out the phone. He got into the car and drove away towards his house, in the Southern part of the city. In the way, a traffic jam slowed him down. He stared at his wristwatch, wondering how much longer until the jam dissipated. His wife and children were expecting him, after all. How much longer?! He finally managed to get out of the congestion, pulling into the drive his house was in. he parked in front of his house and…

“DAD!!!!! DAAAAAAAADDDD!!” Katara ran towards him before he even finished getting out of the car. He let his take out drop to the floor to catch his daughter, feeling her distress. “DADDYYYYY!! THERE IS A MAN IN OUR HOUSE!!”

“Run to your grandmother´s house, Kat, run!!” he ordered her, pushing her away towards his mother´s house.  
“KYA!!!” he screamed, over and over again. “KYA!!! KYA!!!!” he finally found his wife in the study, her prone form lying on the floor. “Kya? Honey, are you okay?” he walked towards her, feeling uneasy. She was never this still, not even when she slept. “Kya, are you hurt? Where did he…”

“Mommy?” Katara, who ignored his order and adventured back into the house, asked. Her mother continued immobile. Her father also, who had just kneeled down to hold her. His hands were now wet with her blood, the blood of the terrible collection of injuries that was now in her chest, prove of the murder. “Mommy?”

“Katara, go”

“Daddy, I…”

“I said go!!” he ordered, not wanting her to see this. She didn´t need to see this. 

Katara did as she was told, running to her grandmother´s house to call for help. Hakoda stayed with his fallen wife, crying over her dead body. He… he couldn´t simply believe it. Every time she ever needed him, he was there. And now, for a damn traffic jam… he failed her. And lost her. Forever. He was still having those thoughts when Bato arrived with Sokka. His friend entered to the house, leaving the child with Kana, and tried to pry Hakoda from the dead Kya. He wasn´t able, so he was forced to call more people. In the end, he needed six people to move the grieving husband from the body of his wife. And it was almost not worth it, because as soon as he was untangled from her, the police came and took his away. To interrogate him, they said, but Bato could almost swear they were trying to pin the murder on him. Unfortunately for them, there were proves that Hakoda was not present for the murder and that he made no bank transaction big enough to hire a killer.

“Are you okay?” he asked the man in Kya´s funeral. Katara and Sokka had just stopped crying, being taken by Kanna to sleep, leaving their father alone to finally cry instead of showing himself strong for them. 

“No, I… I think…” he sighed, trying to control himself. “The police said that this is a robbery gone wrong, but there is nothing out of place. And I checked.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, yes, I…” Hakoda stopped on his tracks when he realised that he overlooked something. Kya was a professional, he knew because they worked together a lot. And, apart from the necklace he gifted her on their engagement party, she always wore the key to her safe box on her neck. When he arrived that night, the necklace was on the floor, not on Kya´s neck. And the key… “I have to check on something”

“Koda? What are you…? Koda!!!”

Hakoda wasn´t listening. He pulled his own key out, opening the safe box in the study. He pulled out the papers that were there, all related to one or another case he was currently taking or has taken in the past. And he noticed something. “The archive of the Sozin case is gone.”

“What?”

“The archive!! Of the Sozin case!!” the man bit his lips. How could he have been so careless? Of course they were going to go after him!! “Remember that big multinational that fired thousands of it´s employers when one subsidiary was closed? Without remuneration? Well, the employers were trying to demand the company to get them to pay. Me and Kya took the case and… now the file is gone.”

“It´s the only thing in the entire house that is gone?”

“I… I believe so, but…” he grabbed his computer for the first time since his wife´s demise. “Someone formatted the computer. And I bet Kya´s too.”

“What?” Bato lowered his head, gazing at the now clean computer. And suddenly he began to smell the trap there. “Give them to me, I have a friends who works with computers. He might be able to recover some of the information. I will call you when he manages something.”

“Thanks, friend” 

On the other side of the door, a little Katara listened carefully. She has been woken up by the sudden movement in the study and went to see what was wrong. And she listened. Listened how it was Sozin´s enterprise´s fault her mother was dead. How they sent that monster to her house? They… they won´t get away with this. They just won´t.

**Author's Note:**

> Guess who sent the hired killer to the house? I know, it´s not big mistery, but to little Katara it is. And she is going to tear earth and sky to find out. Besides, the WHY could surprise you. And poor Zuko... thank God for Iroh, on´t you think? Anyway, hope you enjoy this and review!!


End file.
